https://sites.google.com/feeds/content/marssociety.org/www2018-03-19T14:29:51.325ZPosts of AnnouncementsGoogle Sites1https://sites.google.com/feeds/content/marssociety.org/www/36826958411013607342014-11-25T16:10:54.015Z2015-09-03T03:23:25.662Z2015-09-03T03:23:24.543ZDonate to the Mars Society via Amazon.com!

Planning to shop at Amazon.com and want to help support the Mars Society and its important work? Then visit Amazon Smile, a wonderful program

that benefits non-profit organizations and their causes!

Amazon.com will donate 0.5% of the price of eligible Amazon Smile purchases to the Mars Society! It's a great way to promote Mars exploration and space advocacy while buying a birthday or holiday gift for a loved one.

To help the Mars Society by purchasing an item via Amazon Smile, please click here. Thanks!

During the 18th
Annual International Mars Society Convention, held in mid-August in Washington,
D.C., the Mars Society convened its Steering Committee and decided on a number
of major initiatives for the coming year. These include:

+ The Mars
Society will attempt to intersect the political ferment associated with the now
unfolding U.S. presidential campaign to mobilize its American members and
chapters to take every opportunity to meet all presidential hopefuls while they
are out on the campaign trail, as well as members of Congress in their home offices, to impress on them the message that the U.S. space program needs a goal, and that goal should be humans to Mars in our time. As part of this effort, the Mars Society will establish a political task force and will reach out to other U.S. space advocacy groups to try to arrange collaboration with them on this initiative.

+ As part of
the effort to provide the currently adrift U.S. space program with real
direction that could get the humans to Mars program underway, the Mars Society
will launch an international student engineering contest to design the Gemini
Mars mission, creating a plan for a two-person Mars flyby that could be

placed on
the desk of the President-elect in late 2016 and be completed by the end of
his or her second term.

The Gemini
Mars mission has some similarities to the previously proposed Inspiration Mars
mission, but eliminates its principle weakness by avoiding the use of a rarely employed
high-energy trajectory that imposed excessive technology development, launch
capacity and schedule demands on the mission. Instead, much easier and more
frequently-used low energy trajectories will be employed.

The contest
will be open to teams of engineering students from universities around the
world, with the team offering the best design proposal receiving a $10,000
prize, with prizes of $5,000, $3,000, $2,000 and $1,000 going to the second,
third, fourth and fifth place contestants, respectively.

Commenting
on the contest, Mars Society President Dr. Robert Zubrin said, “We are calling
this mission Gemini Mars, not just because it will have a crew of two, but
because we aim to have it serve to open the way to the Red Planet in the same
way that the 1960s Gemini program paved the way to the Moon.” Further details
on the contest rules will be released in the near future.

+ The Mars
Society intends to advance the plans for its one-year Mars Arctic 365 program by
down-selecting to a single crew that will first be “put to the test” as part of
an 80-day mission at the organization’s Mars Desert Research Station in the
fall of 2016. The crew, including alternates, of Mars Awakening 80 (MA80), as
the mission is being called, consists of nine individuals drawn from the U.S.,
France, Canada, Germany and Russia who previously made the cut of 21 finalists chosen from an initial pool of over 200 volunteers. More details regarding the
new MA80 mission will be announced soon.

+ The Mars
Society has decided to move its annual international convention from August to
late September, so as to obtain much greater attendance from university
students and faculty. Furthermore, next year’s convention will be held in
Washington, D.C., placing it right in the heart of the “political storm” during
election year. In addition, holding the convention in late September will position it close to the time of the landing of NASA’s INSIGHT probe, which is scheduled to
arrive at the Red Planet towards the end of September. Additional details about the
convention will be posted online in the near future.

+ Finally, a major
effort will be launched to reactivate the Mars Society’s local chapters and
task force organizations. To facilitate this, as well as many other Mars
Society activities and initiatives, the Mars Society Steering Committee has
selected Lucinda Offer to serve as the organization’s Executive Director. Mrs.
Offer previously held the position of Executive Director, but left several years ago to
pursue other opportunities in the United Kingdom. Welcome back Lucinda!

The 18th Annual
International Mars Society Convention held at the Catholic University of
America August 13-16, 2015 was a great success. Some 250 people

attended to
hear over 80 presentations covering all aspects of Mars exploration, including the latest robotic missions, human expeditions and settlement of the Red Planet
and Mars habitability.

By most
accounts, the high points of the four-day conference were two dramatic debates
conducted on the evenings of Thursday, August 13th and Friday, August 14th. The
first was a real knock down encounter between Mars One (with its team led by
Bas Lansdorp) and its MIT graduate research critics arguing the
proposition “Is Mars One Feasible.” The second, also very forceful, featured
former Apollo 17 astronaut Dr. Harrison Schmitt, Mars Society President Dr. Robert
Zubrin, and Planetary Society Director of Advocacy Casey Dreier facing off on
the proposition “Where Next for Human Exploration,” (with the three making the
case for the Moon, Mars and Mars orbit, respectively). We won’t tell you who
won, but the debates were filmed and can be viewed on our YouTube page, so
watch them and decide for yourself.

Commenting
on the debates, Dr. Zubrin said, “This was great. This is exactly the kind of thing the U.S. space program has needed for a long time. We’ve wasted four decades by allowing
the space program to be diverted into quagmires like the Space Shuttle and the
ISS that could not have survived the scrutiny afforded by open debate. Now we
face another potential decade-long diversion in the form of the Asteroid
Redirect Mission. These things need to be debated in the open, so the truth can
be brought into the light, and we can start making the right decisions moving
forward. We are certainly going to have a lot more of these debates at our conventions in
the future.”

Another high
point was the Mars Society banquet, which was addressed via Skype by Andy Weir,
the author of “The Martian” (soon to be released as a major motion picture
starring Matt Damon and directed by Ridley Scott). In the words of one banquet
attendee, Andy Weir was “a hoot.” We look forward to seeing his great novel on screen this October.

There were
far too many talks to list here (a complete agenda may be found on our web site),
but one standout that simply must be mentioned was a plenary given Friday
evening by Dr. Carol Stoker of NASA Ames Research Center, who presented a
review of all the evidence gathered over the past two decades of successful
Mars probes that support the suspicion that life may well exist on the Red
Planet today. “We need to send a life detection mission to Mars,” Dr. Stoker
concluded, eliciting near universal agreement on the basis of her very strong
case.

Referencing
Dr. Stoker’s address, one of the scientists present noted that there would be
plenty of room on the Mars 2020 rover for life detection experiments, and many
other additional instruments as well, if two-thirds of the rover’s science
capability was not being sacrificed to allow it to cache samples for a Mars
Sample Return mission which is not currently funded and may never come, or if it does,
will certainly have its own sample collection capability anyway.

To watch all of the plenary talks, panel discussions and public debates held during the 2015 International Mars Society Convention, please visit the Mars Society's YouTube page.

We're pleased to announce that the Mars Society just reached the 100% funding mark for its Mars Desert Research Station GreenHab crowdfunding campaign! We were able to accomplish this important goal due to your generous support... three days early. Over 140 people from the U.S. and several other countries have donated - so far - to the online campaign.

As with most crowdfunding efforts, campaign planners typically prepare stretch goals in case the desired mark is reached before the scheduled end date. With the well-known enthusiasm of Mars and space advocates, we were very confident of our success and, as expected, fall into that category. We have prepared a number of stretch goals - beyond the initial $10,000 goal - for our MDRS GreenHab rebuild initiative, which can be found on the Indiegogo campaign page.

Thank youagain for your tremendous support of our MDRS GreenHab program, especially over the past 36 hours. If possible, please continue to contribute over the remaining three days towards our stretch goals, all of which benefit the soon-to-be-built GreenHab, which will, once again, serve as the cornerstone of our food and plant research effort to benefit future human exploration and settlement of the Red Planet.

UPDATE: WE'RE 95% FUNDED AS OF AUG. 29, 1:50 PM CDT, WITH 4 DAYS LEFT IN THE MDRS GREENHAB CROWDFUNDING CAMPAIGN. WE'VE MADE TREMENDOUS PROGRESS IN THE LAST 24 HOURS WITH YOUR HELP. PLEASE CONTINUE TO DONATE SO WE CAN REACH OUT GOAL! THANKS!

------------------------------------

WE NEED YOUR HELP!

Final Days of MDRS GreenHab Crowdfunding Campaign!

Thanks to world-wide support and interest, we’ve had a very successful crowdfunding campaign, so far, to raise money to rebuild and refurbish the Mars Society’s Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) GreenHab. As of today, we’re 2/3 of the way to our goal of $10,000, with just FIVE DAYS LEFT in the campaign.

The planned GreenHab geodesic dome will be a vital part of the MDRS program to carry out food and plant research important for eventual human exploration and settlement of the Red Planet. We’re so close to our goal, but we need your help to make it happen. We need you to make a donation (or even consider a second gift to the new GreenHab, if you've already helped).

The Mars Society is pleased to announce that Lucinda Offer has been
appointed as the organization’s new Executive Director, a position she held
previously

from 2009-2012. Mrs. Offer’s appointment was approved during a
recent meeting of the Mars Society Steering Committee.

A high school science teacher by profession, Mrs. Offer has been at
the forefront of Mars advocacy for more than a decade, having served as director of public relations and a senior officer for international development for the Mars Society, as well as a political activist. She is also a long-term member of the organization's Steering Committee.

“We welcome Lucinda’s return to the Mars Society in a senior
capacity and look forward to her leadership, energy and creativity in moving
our organization forward as the world’s largest and leading Mars advocacy
group dedicated to the human exploration and settlement of the Red Planet,”
said Dr. Robert Zubrin, Mars Society President.

Mrs. Offer participated in NASA Ames Research Center’s Spaceward Bound program in Australia, New Zealand, the United Arab Emirates and the
Mojave from 2010-2015, and founded and managed Marsonauts, Inc., a company that
publishes educational materials to inspire students (K-12) and the general
public about exploring space, including the Red Planet.

More recently, she helped establish Women on Mars, an international
initiative to encourage and empower women to participate in STEAM (Science, Technology,
Engineering, Art and Mathematics) subjects in school and take a
leadership role in human space exploration.

Mrs. Offer has a Bachelor’s degree in Geology and a Geo-Science
credential in Secondary Education from San Jose State University and also
participated in graduate-level studies in Inter-Professional Science Education
and Communication from the University of Glasgow (UK).

(August 13-16), with dozens of speakers discussing the latest news about Mars exploration, planning for a human mission to the Red Planet and other space-related issues.

The Mars Society will be broadcasting all plenary talks, panel discussions and public debates taking place during the four-day convention live on the Internet via Ustream. If you are interested in watching any of the sessions, please check our program itineraryfor exact dates and times (please note that all times listed are EDT).

To view the Mars Society convention, please visit: http://ustre.am/11EDZ. The Ustream video broadcast will begin a few minutes prior to the start of each morning, afternoon and evening session. All talks, discussions and debates will also be recorded and later posted on the Mars Society’s YouTube page. Please visit our web site for more details.

The Mars Society will also be following plenary speakers, panel discussions and public debates via Twitter, issuing regular updates via the organization's Twitter feed - @TheMarsSociety - and using#MarsCon2015.

We're sure you'll enjoy this year's international convention and hope you'll watch as much as possible. On to Mars!

Dr. Edward
Hudgins, Director of Advocacy and a senior scholar at the Atlas Society, as well as a
respected writer, will address the 18th Annual International Mars Society
Convention at the Catholic University in Washington, D.C. next week (August 13-16)
on how growing human freedoms are leading humankind

towards an unlimited future
in space.

Previously Dr.
Hudgins served as Director of Regulatory Studies at the Cato Institute and Editor
of Regulation magazine. He is considered an expert on the regulation of space
and transportation, labor and pharmaceuticals. He also worked as a senior
economist for the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress and was both Deputy
Director for Economic Policy Studies and Director of the Center for
International Economic Growth at the Heritage Foundation. In addition, Dr.
Hudgins has testified on many occasions before Congress and served as an
advocate for the Space Frontier Foundation for more than a decade.

His opinion
writing has been published in the Wall Street Journal, Houston Chronicle, USA
Today, Philadelphia Inquirer, the Journal of Commerce, Aviation Week &
Space Technology, among other publications. In addition, he is the best-selling
author of The Republican Party’s Civil
War: Will Freedom Win? and the Editor of
Freedom to Trade: Refuting the New Protectionism, Space: The Free Market
Frontier.

Dr. Hudgins received
a Bachelor’s degree (Government & Politics) from the University of
Maryland, a Master’s degree (Political Theory & History) from American
University, and a doctorate from Catholic University in political philosophy
and international relations. He has also taught at several universities in the
United States and Germany.

For more information about the 2015 Mars Society convention, including online registration, banquet details and full program itinerary, please click here.

The Mars Society will be convening its 18th Annual International Mars Society Convention from August 13-16 at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. The conference will include dozens of speakers discussing the latest news about Mars exploration, planning for a human mission to the

Red Planet and other space-related issues.

The Mars Society is pleased to announce that all plenary talks, panel discussions and public debates taking place during the four-day convention will be broadcast live on the Internet via Ustream. If you are interested in watching any of the sessions, please check our program itinerary for exact dates and times (please note that all times listed are EDT).

To view the Mars Society convention, please visit: http://ustre.am/11EDZ. The Ustream video broadcast will begin a few minutes prior to the start of each morning, afternoon and evening session. All talks, discussions and debates will also be recorded and later posted on the Mars Society’s YouTube page. Please visit our web site for more details.

For more information about the 2015 Mars Society convention, including online registration, banquet details and full program itinerary, please click here.

plenary talk about
the agency’s evolving Mars exploration campaign and its role in the Global Exploration
Roadmap at the 18th Annual International Mars Society Convention, August 13-16
at Catholic University in Washington, D.C.

He moved to
NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C. in 2005 as Operations Project Manager for
the newly formulated Constellation Program and later as Ground & Mission
Ops Program Executive. From February 2007 to February 2011, Mr. Guidi served as
Deputy Director, ESMD Strategic Analysis Division which provides integrated
technical and management planning across ESMD and later joined HEOMD in 2011
leading international partnerships, science integration and human spaceflight
architecture planning and analysis.

Mr. Guidi
has a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of
Florida and Master’s degrees in Space Systems (Florida Institute of Technology)
and Engineering Management (University of Central Florida).

For more information about the 2015 Mars Society convention, including online registration, banquet details and full program itinerary, please click here.

M StoltzPublicRelations@marssociety.orgjohnguiditoreviewnasasmarscampaignglobalexplorationroadmap4https://sites.google.com/feeds/content/marssociety.org/www/50983321416940770582015-07-30T17:06:46.596Z2015-07-30T20:38:51.884Z2015-07-30T20:38:50.235ZHelp Restore MDRS Green House by Contributing to New Crowdfunding Campaign

The
Mars Society launched today an online crowdfunding campaign - via Indiegogo.com
-to help raise $10,000 to
rebuild and refurbish the green house used at the organization's Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) in southern Utah to carry out food and plant research important for eventual human exploration and settlement of the Red Planet.

The MDRS
green house (commonly referred to as the GreenHab) was severely damaged by fire
late last year, with MDRS staff determining that the facility was unfit for
further use and needed to be completely rebuilt.

Plans to
restore the new GreenHab include building a geodesic dome designed to house an
assortment of food gardens and science experiments. More efficient, easier to
use and healthier for plants, the new structure will ensure that plant and food
research remain a key aspect of the overall MDRS simulation program.

A
generous donation immediately following the GreenHab fire in December allowed the
Mars Society to cover the cost of a temporary grow tent for plant research
during the remainder of the 2014-15 field season and also purchase materials to
build the new GreenHab dome structure.

Since
then, Mars Society staff and volunteers have constructed a small sample
geodesic test unit and completed a work trip to MDRS this past weekend to lay
the building foundation, with plans to return to the Utah site in September to build
the new dome in time for the upcoming crew field season, which begins in
mid-October.

While
the Mars Society has been able to raise part of the funds needed to fully
rebuild and restore the MDRS GreenHab, the organization currently lacks

money
to equip the planned facility with the necessary tools to perform important
crew research and testing.

MDRS
staff intend to build new planters at MDRS to study dirt and regolith, install
a hydroponics system that can eventually be converted into aquaponics, and
purchase LED lighting, environmental controls, fans, sensors, Raspberry Pis and
other supplies and equipment, all needed to ensure that crews using the
GreenHab are able to provide the latest research in planning for human Mars
exploration.

The Mars Society is pleased to announce that the featured speaker at the 18th Annual International Mars Society Convention’s Saturday evening banquet

(August 15th) will be Andy Weir, author of the best-selling novel, “The Martian,” which is scheduled to be released this October as a major motion picturestarring Matt Damon and directed by Ridley Scott. Mr. Weir will address the banquet (via Skype) and then take questions from the audience.

Prior to Mr. Weir’s talk, Kevin Sloan, Director of the Mars Society’s University Rover Challenge (URC), will speak about the record-setting 2015 URC competition, which was held in late May at the Mars Desert Research Station in southern Utah. 44 student teams from around the world registered for this year’s event, with 22 eventually competing with their rovers in the final round, testing their remote field exploratory capabilities in the harsh Mars-like terrain of the Utah desert. Mr. Sloan’s presentation will include dramatic video footage from the three-day international competition.

The Mars Society banquet promises to be a great night. Please join us next month in Washington, D.C.!

For more information about the 2015 Mars Society convention, including online registration, banquet details, full program schedule and final days to reserve discount hotel rooms at the Phoenix Park Hotel in Washington, D.C., please click here.

Dr. Michael Summers, a member of NASA’s science team for the New Horizons mission and a professor of planetary science and astronomy at George Mason University, will give an update about the historic fly-by of Pluto and its moon, Charon, as well as plans for the spacecraft’s next objective - exploring the Kuiper Belt - at the 18th Annual International Mars Society Convention, August 13-16, at Catholic University in Washington, D.C.

A planetary scientist who specializes in the structure and evolution of the atmospheres of Earth, Mars, Io, Titan, Triton, Uranus, Pluto and its moon Charon, Dr.

Summers has served on several space mission science teams (UARS, MAS, Space Shuttle, AIM, ARES Mars Airplane, among others) in the role of science planning and the interpretation of spacecraft observations. He has also participated in numerous NASA panels and research groups.

Prof. Summers is active in educational activities and has contributed to the development of the GMU Astronomy B.S., Physics Ph.D., CSI Ph.D., Climate Dynamics Ph.D., B.S. in Atmospheric Sciences degrees, and numerous other concentrations and curricular programs. In addition, he serves as an advisor for education and research to NASA and the commercial space industry.

Dr. Summers received a Bachelor’s degree from Murray State University (majoring in Physics, Mathematics and Russian), a M.S. degree from the University of Texas at Dallas (Space Physics) and a Ph.D. from the California Institute of Technology (Planetary Science and Astronomy).

For more information about the 2015 International Mars Society Convention, including registration details, sponsorship opportunities and a list of confirmed plenary speakers and panelists, please click here.

The U.S. human spaceflight program is currently adrift without a
goal. It badly needs one in order to focus its efforts and insure that something
concrete is accomplished over the coming decade. But what should that goal be?
There is no more important question facing today’s space program.

The Mars Society is therefore pleased to announce that it will be convening
a special event at the 18th Annual International Mars Society Convention on the
evening of Friday, August 14th, 2015, in which the question of “Where Next for Human
Space Exploration” will be debated by three leading advocates. Those participating will include former Apollo 17 astronaut and U.S. Senator Dr. Harrison "Jack" Schmitt, who will represent the case for the Moon, Mars Society President Dr. Robert Zubrin, who will represent the case for Mars, and Planetary Society Director of Advocacy Casey Dreier, who will advocate the case for a step-wise approach that eventually reaches the Red Planet, but which targets missions to Mars orbit first.

The public debate will be formal, with each contender, in order
chosen by lot, making a 15 minute opening statement, followed by 5 minutes of
rebuttal from each, and then 45 minutes of questions to the panel posed by
members of the audience. The event will follow directly after a plenary talk by
Dr. Schmitt entitled: “The Moon: the Fastest Operational Path to Mars.”

There will be over 60 other speakers at the Mars Society conference, which will
run from August 13 through August 16 at the Catholic University of
America in Washington, D.C. The convention's full program itinerary, covering subjects ranging from near term robotic Mars exploration to
the settlement of the Red Planet and its implications for the human future, is now online.

Those interested in attending the convention can register via the Mars Society web site. Discount hotel rooms are available (until Saturday, July 25th) from the Phoenix Park Hotel, located just two metro stops away from the convention site. Those
wishing to obtain a room should call the hotel at 877-237-2082.
Please mention that you are attending the Mars Society convention (group code 19866).

The conference will include a series of plenary talks, panel discussions and public debates involving leading experts, scientists and policymakers discussing the latest news on Mars exploration and planning for a human mission to the Red Planet.

Join us at our international convention, scheduled for August 13-16, 2015 at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.

Convention highlights include:

+ An address by Director of NASA’s Planetary Science Division Jim Green on U.S. planning for Mars exploration.

+ A public debate between Mars One founder Bas Lansdorp and two MIT graduate research fellows.

+ A talk with Google Vice President & Internet pioneer Dr. Vint Cerf on long-term planning for Mars and beyond.

+ A special banquet address by science writer and author Andy Weir on his book, “The Martian.”

+ A briefing by the Heritage Foundation’s Dean Cheng on China’s space policy and program.

+ A discussion by the Atlantic Council’s Dr. Bhrath Gopalaswamy on current and future planning for India’s space program.

+ A public debate on the future of human spaceflight involving former Apollo astronaut Dr. Harrison Schmitt, Mars Society President Dr. Robert Zubrin and Planetary Society Director of Advocacy Casey Dreier.

+ A talk by Goddard Space Flight Center’s Dr. Pam Conrad on the search for life on the Red Planet.

To view the Mars Society convention’s full program itinerary, please click here.

The Mars Society is pleased to announce that a formal debate will be held at its 18th Annual International Mars Society Conventionat the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. August 13-16, 2015 on the proposition: “Is Mars One Feasible?”

Leading the affirmative team will be Mars One President Bas Lansdorp. The negative proposition will be argued by Sydney Do and Andrew Owens, two

At a public event on the evening of Thursday, August 13th, the two sides will have it out. The debate will begin with the negative team speaking for 20 minutes, followed by the affirmative team for 20 minutes. Then each side will have 10 minutes for rebuttal, after which there will be 30 minutes for questions from the audience, which may be directed to either side for a two minute answer, to be rebutted by the other with equal time.

Is Mars One feasible? Come and hear both sides and decide for yourself!

Call for Papers/Early RegistrationThere will be dozens of speakers at the 2015 Mars Society conference. If you would like to be one of them, please send an abstract of no more than 300 words to abstracts@marssociety.org. The deadline for abstracts is June 30th at 5:00 pm MDT. Talks on all matters (science, engineering, politics, economics, public policy, etc.) associated with the exploration and settlement of Mars will be considered. Registration for the 2015 conference is available at www.marssociety.org. Discount early registration ends (today) June 30th at 5:00 pm MDT, so register now!

M StoltzPublicRelations@marssociety.orgmarsonetodebatemitcriticsatmarssocietyconvention1https://sites.google.com/feeds/content/marssociety.org/www/10844751581310213852015-06-29T20:53:23.106Z2015-06-29T20:53:51.037Z2015-06-29T20:53:49.924ZONE DAY LEFT for Early Registration & Abstract Submission for Mars Society Convention

Washington, D.C. Dozens of leading scientists, policymakers, journalists and space advocates will be discussing the latest news about Mars exploration and the planning for a human mission to the Red Planet.

Those interested in attending should take advantage of the EARLY REGISTRATION TICKET DISCOUNT available until Tuesday, June 30th at 5:00 pm MDT and sign up to attend the Mars Society convention this summer. Online registration is available at the Mars Society web site. There are special rates for Mars Society members. In many cases, you can save money by joining our organization today.

In addition, Tuesday, June 30th is also the DEADLINE FOR SUBMITTING ABSTRACT PAPERS for consideration for the Mars Society convention. Subjects for discussion can involve all matters associated with the exploration and settlement of the planet Mars, including science, technology, engineering, politics, economics, public policy, etc. For full details, please click here.

Learn more about Mars and ongoing efforts to encourage human exploration and settlement of the Red Planet by joining us this August in Washington, D.C.!

Dr. Jennifer
Stern, a NASA space scientist at Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, will
give a plenary talk about the chemical make-up of the Martian

surface and the
potential for life on the Red Planet at the 18th Annual International Mars
Society Convention, scheduled for August 13-16, 2015 at Catholic University in
Washington, D.C.

Dr. Stern
specializes in the study of the atmosphere and surface of Mars and instrument
development for geo-chemical measurements on planetary surfaces. She is a
member of the science team for the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Rover
Curiosity and also a team member on the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM)
Instrument Suite, one of the 10 instruments on Curiosity, which uses mass and
laser spectrometry to measure the chemical composition of the Red Planet’s atmosphere and surface.

Dr. Stern
has a B.A. in Geology-Biology from Brown University and a Ph.D. in Geochemistry
from Florida State University, where she developed analytical techniques for
isotope and trace metal analysis of environmental waters in order to trace the
impacts of agriculture in the Florida Everglades and methane emissions from
landfills. She decided to apply her interest in geochemistry to astrobiology as
a postdoctoral fellow at NASA’s Ames Research Center and Goddard Space Flight
Center, where she studied how organic molecules can be formed by non-biological
processes occurring in meteorites and at hydro-thermal vents.

Today, in
parallel with her participation on the Curiosity team conducting experiments on
Mars, Dr. Stern participates in field expeditions to places where geo-chemical
processes similar to those that may have occurred on Mars are recorded in
Earth’s rock record, such as Greenland, Svalbard and southern Mexico.

For
more information about the 2015 International Mars Society Convention,
including registration details, sponsorship opportunities and a list of
confirmed plenary speakers and panelists, please click here.

Astrophysicist, Dr. Michael Shara, was chock full of great information and insight. While watching, my heart ached for our civilization to understand the importance of a manned mission to Mars. Charles Bolden stated NASA’s plan is to be on Mars around 2030 with the current budget of half of one percent of the US budget, we believe with more resources and cooperation from various countries and private organizations we could be on Mars sooner and possibly cheaper. A major reason for needing a human touch on Mars is for exactly what Bill Nye stated which is that a human scientist could do in one minute the job that a robot does in a week, it’s about a ratio of 1:10,000. The problem was stated clearly by Dr. Michael Shara, “Frankly, we are not as brave as we should be.” These statements are extraordinarily important to be shared with the public. We are not as brave or as curious as we should be. Dr. Robert Zubrin, President of The Mars Society and one of the bravest men I have ever known, says we could be on Mars in ten years with the proper funding.

Aren’t you curious? Is curiosity lost to our civilization for the most part? Some days I think it is. I often get asked this question, “What does The Mars Society do?” This question sometimes frustratingly comes from a place of condescension and rarely a place of curiosity. I have to remind myself that the work we are doing here is to take humans to another planet, an event that would change human history and that most people unfortunately have no concept of why it is so important. The short answer is: We are an advocacy group to promote the human exploration and settlement of Mars. Our goal is to educate the public through our Education Department, bring like-minded people together at chapter meetings and our annual conventions, and promote a human mission to Mars via projects and competitions. Sounds simple right? Well, not really. You see, people really like the societal pleasures of who is who, who is wearing who, what team are you for, what kind of car do you drive, what do you do for a living???? On and on this goes. Meanwhile, billions of people are left uninformed of what is really important: Curiosity, knowledge, and exploration. Instilling curiosity, providing access to true knowledge of scientific facts, and the goal of Mars exploration by humans, is an important part of what we are trying to accomplish.

Society Convention, scheduled for August 13-16, 2015 at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.

Dr. Bass also serves as Section Manager for Mission Systems Engineering at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) where she and her team focus on making spacecraft, software and processes easier to operate. In addition, she has conducted independent research on the Martian water cycle, focusing on surface-atmosphere interactions.

While a post-doc at the Southwest Research Institute (in San Antonio), Dr. Bass was involved with the ill-fated Mars Polar Lander and also the highly successful Cassini mission. When Dr. Bass joined JPL in 2001, she acted as the Science Operations System Engineer and later Deputy Science Team Chief for the Mars Exploration Rovers Mission. After MERs’ primary missions, Dr. Bass moved to the Phoenix Mars Lander Project where she was appointed Deputy Project Scientist.

Dr. Bass received her bachelor's degree in Geology from the University of Pennsylvania and her Ph.D. in Planetary Geology from UCLA.

For more information about the 2015 International Mars Society Convention, including registration details, sponsorship opportunities and a list of confirmed plenary speakers and panelists, please click here.

The Mars Society learned last week that the dinosaur fossil discovery made by the organization in Lith Canyon during Mars Desert Research

Station (MDRS) Crew 1 in 2002 and amplified by further data gathered from subsequent crews by MDRS Director Shannon Rupert, has, upon investigation by professional paleontologists, now led to one of the largest dinosaur fossil finds in history. Huge quantities of fossils of Jurassic dinosaurs, including Apatosaurus (aka Brontosaurus), Diplodocus, Allosaurus and many other species have been unearthed in the area. According to Dr. Scott Williams of the Burpee Museum of Natural History, who is leading the dig, the find is "as significant as Dinosaur National Monument."

The initial discovery was made on February 9, 2002, by an EVA team consisting of Dr. Robert Zubrin, Jennifer Heldmann, Heather Chluda and Steve McDaniel on the MDRS Crew 1’s first long distance motorized exploratory excursion. The team had traveled several kilometers north of the MDRS hab, making a number of stops. Dr. Zubrin’s log book for the day, published that same evening, says what happened next.

“We continued north another 2.5 kilometers and came to a hill too steep for the ATVs. I decided to climb it, though, to get the view of the region to the west. We hiked up and were rewarded not merely with an impressive view, but with the sight of a fair-sized canyon and a passable ATV route to get there.

So to the canyon we went. This was a wonderful place, with a steep little gorge that exposed millions of years of banded sediments to easy view. I climbed

around the rim and had a Eureka moment when I found some bits of petrified wood. These however were made irrelevant within minutes by Heather who found a small mountain made of the stuff – in several varieties no less. But then I found something which really made my day – a bone of stone. It’s the size of a coffee mug, and the indentation for the joint is clearly visible. The material I found it in was Jurassic, so my guess is that it’s a dinosaur.”

The crew also discovered endolithic microorganisms in the canyon and therefore named it “Lith Canyon.”

Under the leadership of Ms. Rupert, the MDRS Remote Science team has been recording GPS coordinates of additional fossil finds by MDRS crews on subsequent EVAs and forwarding them to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for distribution to the scientific community for several years. Starting in the fall, this activity will become more systematic, with direct coordination of MDRS field exploration and reportage with Dr. Williams and his group to insure proper follow up of all discoveries.

While we do not expect to find dinosaur fossils on Mars, the search for fossils left behind by simpler organisms, such as stromatolites, which may have evolved and lived on the surface during the Red Planet’s early warm and wet history, will be a critical part of the science program of the first human missions to Mars. Thus the MDRS field paleontological exploration effort will serve both as a direct analog to learn how to explore on Mars, while playing a significant role in furthering important scientific research on Earth.

Commenting on the development, Mars Society President Dr. Robert Zubrin said; “This discovery really shows how important it is to send human explorers to Mars. We traveled out 5 kilometers that day, a distance that it took the MER rovers several years to traverse, climbed a hill that no rover could climb to obtain a view that allowed us to discover the canyon, then made a spontaneous un-rover-committee-like decision to go into the canyon, then climbed down a descent

into it that no rover could manage, and then explored the canyon, using perceptive and intuitive abilities natural to humans but far beyond the capacities of any robotic rover to discover both endoliths and dinosaur fossils. You could have landed scores of rovers in that desert and never made either of those discoveries. Furthermore, now that professional paleontologists are on the scene, those finds are being followed up in a way that is light years beyond the capabilities tele-operated rovers.

“It was great for me to revisit Lith Canyon, seeing the wild scene of our first exploration now being worked over by a paleontological camp. In 20 or 30 years, it will probably look like Dinosaur National Monument, complete with visitor center, souvenir shop, and cafeteria. I can imagine the same succession occurring on Mars. First an astronaut on an early expedition will make and mark a suspected find. Then teams of professional paleontologists and geologists from a Mars base established nearby will come and work the site over, making dramatic discoveries that will change our understanding of the potential prevalence and diversity of life in the universe. Then, the day will come when the place is turned into an exhibit, and Martian kids from New Plymouth will come out on classroom field trips to gawk at the displays in the visitor center of Stromatolite National Park, while some of the teenagers slink off to make out in the broom closet. Life goes on.

M StoltzPublicRelations@marssociety.orgmdrsresearchinutahleadstovastdinosaurfossilfind4https://sites.google.com/feeds/content/marssociety.org/www/39936768690535821872015-06-03T15:36:39.969Z2015-06-03T15:37:41.216Z2015-06-03T15:37:40.263ZPolish, American Teams Lead the Field at 2015 University Rover Challenge

The 2015 University Rover Challenge (URC) concluded Saturday at the Mars Desert Research Station in southern Utah with the excitement that accompanies more than 200 students and nearly two dozen rovers. After competing in four rover operations tasks and a presentation task, the podium was rounded out by two Polish teams and an American team. The prestigious URC title left in the hands of the Legendary Rover Team from Rzeszow University of Technology in Poland, who scored an impressive 460 points (out of 500).

BYU Mars Rover from Brigham Young University (USA) captured second place with 371 points, and Project Scorpio from Wroclaw University of Technology (Poland) finished in third place with 364 points. Polish and American teams captured the top six spots, and eight of the top ten.

Now in its ninth year, URC has seen tremendous growth in participation. A record 44 teams began this journey last December. After a two-stage down-selection process, 23 teams were invited to the URC Finals in Utah at the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS). Teams are tasked with designing and building the next generation of Mars Rovers that could one day support astronauts exploring the surface of Mars.

M StoltzPublicRelations@marssociety.orgpolishamericanteamsleadthefieldat2015universityroverchallenge3https://sites.google.com/feeds/content/marssociety.org/www/86748399240696978042015-05-31T14:27:52.439Z2015-05-31T15:31:13.372Z2015-05-31T15:31:12.236ZAnd We Have a Winner...

The Mars Society is pleased to announce that Legendary Rover Team (Rzeszow University of Technology - Poland) has won the 2015 University Rover Challenge with a score of 460 points.

Second place with 371 points belongs to BYU Mars Rover (Brigham Young University - Utah, U.S.A.), while Project Scorpio (Wrocław University of Technology - Poland) earned third place with 364 points.

The Mars Society would like to congratulate all of the student teams for participating in this year's URC contest and for showing the kind of creativity and problem-solving that future Mars explorers will need.

For full details about the 2015 URC competition and results, please click here.

Special hotel accommodations have been organized
by the Phoenix Park Hotel (520 N. Capitol St. NW, Washington, D.C.) for the 18th
Annual International Mars Society Convention, scheduled for August 13-16, 2015 at the
Catholic University of America.

Those
attending the Mars Society convention may now book hotel reservations at a
reduced rate by calling (toll free) # 877-237-2082 and identifying themselves as being with Group Code 19866 or 'Mars Society'. Attendees may also book their reservations online by clicking on an a special reservation web link. Major credit card information is required at time of reservation.

The deadline
date for ordering a hotel reservation is Monday, July 13th. Reservation requests received after this date
will be subject to availability and prevailing rate. Individual cancellation policy is 72 hours
prior to date of arrival to avoid one night’s room plus tax charge to credit
card provided. Please obtain a cancellation number when doing so.

Round-trip
transportation to the Mars Society convention, held at the Catholic University campus,
is available via the Union Station Metro line, located one block from the
Phoenix Park Hotel.

For more
details about the 2015 Mars Society Convention, including registration details,
a list of confirmed speakers and sponsorship opportunities, please click here.

M StoltzPublicRelations@marssociety.orgspecialhotelaccommodationsfor2015marssocietyconventioninwashingtondc5https://sites.google.com/feeds/content/marssociety.org/www/44776946720073384372015-05-29T02:54:16.568Z2015-05-29T02:59:55.367Z2015-05-29T02:55:15.869ZStudents Arrive in Utah for 2015 University Rover Challenge

The Mars Society's 2015 University Rover Challenge (URC) began earlier today at the organization's Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) in southern Utah. 23 student teams from around the world are participating in the three-day competition, held at the world's largest "Mars sandbox" in and around the MDRS habitat. For daily updates, please visit the URC Facebook page.

[Image: The Rover Boyz from India await the start of the Terrain Traversing Task.]